Learned about it on facebook today. Makes so much sense to me - and the pro feedback looks good! Sometimes it's the small things... that get overlooked. I'm sure other manufacturers will follow.

I agree, it seems like a subtle change, but I think it actually makes a significant difference. When they spun the head around on the drum... that was pretty cool! I'd definitely like to try some of them out.

So this is a new manufacturing process that improves the flatness and uniformity of the head and hoop? Sound like it would apply to all existing lines...

But is this a promise they can make? It seems like so much of a head's quality, in those regards, are outside of their control. Sure, it may leave the factory perfectly flat, and round, but a head/hoop are very pliable and anything can happen in shipping, and stocking.

Seems interesting, I'm about to change my tom batters so I'll probably just wait to pick some of the newer heads with the 360 collar. I read that they will apply these new 360 collars to all 6"-16" drum set snare and tom heads, as well as tenor marching heads.

Their approach definitely addresses the problem I've been having with Remo heads and my Sonor 3007s, many heads just don't fit on the bearing edge. But calling them "level 360" as if these new drum heads would be the only ones with the ability to sit perfectly even on the bearing edge... that's the way my Evans drum heads have always been, and it's the way every drum head should, and could be, minor inconsistencies in drum sizes is the main problem.

I guess they should start appearing in stores pretty soon? Shall be interesting to see if this is going to be a "revolution" of such proportions as Evans depicts it.

So, when can I buy them and how will I know I'm getting a Level 360 G+ instead of old stock? I'm due to replace the stock heads on my drums sometime soon.

One thing to note is that the amount of benefit this head gives is likely very dependent on the bearing edge you have. I'd bet it really shines on something like a Ludwig Classic Maple with a single-45 bearing edge.

Honestly, I don't even understand the point of the collar. I tried a Remo snare side ambassador without the collar once, and as soon as it was on, it stretched - and thus, a perfectly fitting collar was born. I feel like a deeper collar might work really well for some drums, but be awful for anything with a edge different from the standard 45. I've never tried a thicker batter head without a collar, but I would love to. Perhaps it would be too thick to stretch, but it sounds like a plausible idea in my head.
Either way, props to Evans for pushing technology forward, even though I don't use any of their products. Good marketing, too. That's always been their forte IMHO :).

Honestly, I don't even understand the point of the collar. I tried a Remo snare side ambassador without the collar once, and as soon as it was on, it stretched - and thus, a perfectly fitting collar was born. I feel like a deeper collar might work really well for some drums, but be awful for anything with a edge different from the standard 45. I've never tried a thicker batter head without a collar, but I would love to. Perhaps it would be too thick to stretch, but it sounds like a plausible idea in my head.

Same. I've never had any problems with any drumheads not fitting my drums, certainly not to the extent shown on the DW in that ad. And the head is just going to get stretched to that "perfect" shape when it's tightened onto the drum. I don't see this process making enough of a difference for me to switch from Remo or even care at all- but I guess we'll see when they're released and non-endorsers can offer their opinions.

It seems to me that the new Evans technology got their drum head hoops to lay flat, lol. A lot of the video is targeted to the players that have difficulties tuning their drums. The paraphrased comment, because I couldn't quit make out a few of his words, "we just want to play drums, we don't want to have to tune them", comment will impress these people. Just like a friend of mine who was through the Evans plant less than a year ago said to me, they're always experimenting with something, which is great, but how many variations of these un-marked experiments are already out there sitting on shelves? The heads that I'm using now, both Evans and Remo fit well on all my kits and can spin freely on a few, especially my Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute. I definitely don't need a head on those drums that fit any looser than what I'm already using.

It sounds like a fix that might help a few, especially if they don't like all that tuning bull****, lol.

I'll try them when they're on the shelves because I'll have no other choice if I want to remain predominately with Evans especially if they use this new process on all their future drum heads. I would very much like to see and hear a more consistent version of their G2 clear and coated heads so that less dead heads make it into my hands. It has already been stated by an Evans rep that this is a "static" problem. There you go a real problem to feast on.

If this newest improvement serves us all positively in some way, then all well and good for their initiative.

I find it tends to go the other way that the more tension the longer they last as the impact is spread out over the whole head more efficiently.

Absolutely, I've never seen a dented tight head. I've seen dented Hydraulics, tuned JAW.
A more uniform collar would probably help with lower tunings, but any collar leaves more room for manufacturing error than no collar. If anybody knows of a collarless batter head, let me know. I'm curious to try one.

Well, if these help with a lower tuning, I look forward to trying them out. Not that I'll really have a choice. But my kit is due for a re-skinning pretty damn soon, so when these new heads hit the market, I'll pick up a new set and try 'em out and give my impressions to you all.

I went by the Daddario booth and happened to talk with one of the Evans guys about the 360 thing.

Per Evans, 360 is a technology that is used on all Evans heads sized 6 thru 16 inches. But that seems like it was already agreed upon in this thread.

Here's the interesting thing for me. When I asked how Evans would deal with existing stock (dealer RMA's, buy backs, etc.) the rep said they had already started shipping them.

He said they had been shipping them since June.

So if you buy from an Evans dealer that regularly moves through stock, the chance is very good that you have already used a 360 head. If you buy from a dealer who has Evans heads sitting on the shelf for very long periods of time then you probably have not.

I bought an Evans head (coated G2) in the last few weeks and didn't notice any 360 logo on the box. But I'll bet it is the newer model. Sounds good as they usually do. The head fit to my '68 Acrolite like any G2 I've gotten in the past.

So, if my non 360 heads spin on the shell already, I can't see that it would make much of a difference. But I like the fact that they are thinking about how the head contacts the bearing edge, it is crucial. A real innovation would be a head made to fit each various manufacturers exact shell diameter and particular bearing edge profile. A truly custom head by brand/bearing edge profile and hoop fit. This would likely be uneconomical for Evans, but ideal for us as drummers.

Hey guys! Actually typing this from about 30,000ft. up right now, flying home to New York after the NAMM show. Wish I could have joined the conversation earlier, but NAMM has kept me quite busy! Please forgive that the rest of this post is something that I also posted on another forum, but I wanted to have this information available here as well.

I'd like to clear up some misconceptions about the new Evans Level 360 collar design. Consider this an unofficial FAQ of Level 360 for the time being. I'd be happy to answer more questions as they come up.

Is this a new series of drumheads?Nope, this is a new design that we're applying to all of our heads going forward.

Will this cost more?Nope. We have literally spent the last five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars redesigning our collar shape in order to create the most forgiving, easy to use, best sound line of drumheads available. But it won't cost you a penny more.

Why did Evans/D'Addario bother doing this?Simply because we want to offer a better user experience with our drumheads. Drummers (or even non-drummers for that matter) should not need to struggle with tuning in order to achieve an acceptable tone. We want our heads to fit all drums the way that heads should have always should have fit. As a result, the heads tune far easier, have greater tuning range, and work better on all ranges of drums, from vintage to modern, low-end to high-end, pristine to out-of-round or damaged.

Sounds like a whole lot of marketing BS- my heads have always fit just fine.Having personally been involved with the development of this collar and demonstrated it literally 300+ times over the past 4 days at NAMM, I can tell you that it is very real and quite tangible. The issue is that we've never had anything else to compare to. There was never an alternative to the way that heads fit. As a result, we've been taught a series of tricks to get our drums in tune. Have you ever seated a drumhead- over-tensioned it, crushed the collar, done the CPR-move on the center of the head in order to get a new drumhead ready to tune up? That's because the drumhead wasn't actually fitting perfectly on your drum.

Okay, but if my heads don't fit, how are they on my drums right now?When we say that they don't fit, we're referring to the fact that they don't sit as we believe heads should. They require the techniques mentioned above, in combination with cross-lug tuning, pitch/tension balancing from lug to lug, and more in order to tune up. All of these tricks are meant to compensate for a lack of perfect fit.

I understand the skepticism around this. As soon as you get hands-on with the concept, it becomes clear. Throughout the course of NAMM this past week, I had many a skeptic come up and ask me about Level 360. I can say with great confidence that everyone walked away having seen/felt/heard the difference and believed that this is something truly revolutionary for drumheads, and drumming in general.

I will happily answer any questions about Level 360; be it the design concept, the effects, what the R&D process was like, how we made the change, etc. It has really been a privilege for me to be involved with this project over the years and we're all very excited to finally be rolling it out now.

I think this is a really good idea and long overdue. My toms' bearing edges are cut at 45s all the way out to the edge - there is no countercut. It's not at all uncommon to lay new heads on and see that they are making contact with the bearing edge on the collar of the head instead of the flat part. How can that *not* adversely affect tuning? I don't see this as gimmicky or just some kind of shortcut to easy tuning - this is the way everyone's heads should've been made all along.

Since the collar is steeper, what if one had an extremely oversized drum? In such a case, the drumhead wouldn't even fit on the drum at all. Since the approach with these heads is that they should fit EVERY drum, will undersized shells suffer since the collar of the head would be too wide?

I still don't see any difference to "ordinary" drum heads, since solving the level 360 concept seems to be making a drumhead big enough to lay evenly on the drum. And as far as I know, Aquarian already has oversized drum heads for vintage drums. What exactly will the steep collar do for the sound?

You have to be more specific in regards to explanaining exactly what these drum heads do.

Wow.. I'm really looking forward to getting a new reso and batter for my 13" tom. It's been a huge pain in the butt to tune since the beginning since all the heads I've tried haven't sat flat on the bearing edge. I'm really hoping this makes a difference for me.

I still don't see any difference to "ordinary" drum heads, since solving the level 360 concept seems to be making a drumhead big enough to lay evenly on the drum. And as far as I know, Aquarian already has oversized drum heads for vintage drums. What exactly will the steep collar do for the sound?

You have to be more specific in regards to explanaining exactly what these drum heads do.

The idea is that the entirety of the collar should be on the hoop side of the bearing edge. If any part of that formed collar area is inside the bearing edge, which is the playing/resonant surface, you will need to tension the head tighter to overcome that formed shape to pull it tight, which will be at some tension higher than if it was only the flat part of the head on the bearing edge. But also, just because you've overcome the form shape doesn't mean that its own tension isn't still there subtracting from the resonance.

Making the collar as vertical as possible increases the chance that no part of it will be seating on the bearing edge allowing for lower tunings with minimal or no head distortion.

Again, all heads should be designed so that the formed collar stays off of the bearing edge. Different drum companies use different diameter shells with varying placements of bearing edges on the shell, so head manufacturers can't (or should not be lazy) about their collar formations. They should spec to worst-case edge diameters.

Hey guys! Actually typing this from about 30,000ft. up right now, flying home to New York after the NAMM show. Wish I could have joined the conversation earlier, but NAMM has kept me quite busy! Please forgive that the rest of this post is something that I also posted on another forum, but I wanted to have this information available here as well.

I'd like to clear up some misconceptions about the new Evans Level 360 collar design. Consider this an unofficial FAQ of Level 360 for the time being. I'd be happy to answer more questions as they come up.

Is this a new series of drumheads?Nope, this is a new design that we're applying to all of our heads going forward.

Will this cost more?Nope. We have literally spent the last five years and hundreds of thousands of dollars redesigning our collar shape in order to create the most forgiving, easy to use, best sound line of drumheads available. But it won't cost you a penny more.

Why did Evans/D'Addario bother doing this?Simply because we want to offer a better user experience with our drumheads. Drummers (or even non-drummers for that matter) should not need to struggle with tuning in order to achieve an acceptable tone. We want our heads to fit all drums the way that heads should have always should have fit. As a result, the heads tune far easier, have greater tuning range, and work better on all ranges of drums, from vintage to modern, low-end to high-end, pristine to out-of-round or damaged.

Sounds like a whole lot of marketing BS- my heads have always fit just fine.Having personally been involved with the development of this collar and demonstrated it literally 300+ times over the past 4 days at NAMM, I can tell you that it is very real and quite tangible. The issue is that we've never had anything else to compare to. There was never an alternative to the way that heads fit. As a result, we've been taught a series of tricks to get our drums in tune. Have you ever seated a drumhead- over-tensioned it, crushed the collar, done the CPR-move on the center of the head in order to get a new drumhead ready to tune up? That's because the drumhead wasn't actually fitting perfectly on your drum.

Okay, but if my heads don't fit, how are they on my drums right now?When we say that they don't fit, we're referring to the fact that they don't sit as we believe heads should. They require the techniques mentioned above, in combination with cross-lug tuning, pitch/tension balancing from lug to lug, and more in order to tune up. All of these tricks are meant to compensate for a lack of perfect fit.

I understand the skepticism around this. As soon as you get hands-on with the concept, it becomes clear. Throughout the course of NAMM this past week, I had many a skeptic come up and ask me about Level 360. I can say with great confidence that everyone walked away having seen/felt/heard the difference and believed that this is something truly revolutionary for drumheads, and drumming in general.

I will happily answer any questions about Level 360; be it the design concept, the effects, what the R&D process was like, how we made the change, etc. It has really been a privilege for me to be involved with this project over the years and we're all very excited to finally be rolling it out now.

Saw those myself at NAMM and was impressed. I came away thinking not so much that the head will necessarily sound better, but that it will sound like it's supposed to faster and easier than before. I want my heads to sound great right from the start, and that's a real benefit whether we change heads frequently or not.

Thanks for the info. Are these in stores now? Or are they just in certain areas at present? Will they have a different inking distinguishing the new design from the old?

Hi Larryace,

We've been making most of our heads with the new Level 360 Technology for the past three months without the addition of the new logo, so a lot of what is out in stores features the new collar. Everything we're making now, and the majority of what we're shipping to stores, has the new Level 360 logo. You should begin to see these in stores (particularly local music shops) within the next couple of weeks, depending on the frequency at which they place orders.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrumEatDrum

I got a 1st hand demo from Ben at NAMM, and I was pointed to go get a demo from Ben by someone I've known in the industry for 20 years ( who, oddly enough, used to work for Remo).

Seeing them first hand was great. They are as they say they are.

You can thrown them on, and get a decent tone without much effort.

At one point, Ben tuned up the drum, then took off one of the tension rods, and the head retained it's tone.

Thanks for stopping by! You should have seen the look on my face the first time I demo'd this for myself a couple years back. I couldn't believe the capabilities of the collar. I've never been one for marketing B.S. so it's really important to me that this stuff be tangible and 100% real.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmulcahy1

So, am I clear in the thought that you DO NOT need to seat these heads?

Certainly nowhere near the degree of seating that was necesary in the past. The whole point behind seating a drumhead is to break down the collar in order to mold to the bearing edge. With the Level 360 collar, the horizontal plane of the head comes in direct contact with the bearing edge from the moment you put the head on the shell.